Description

For policy makers and policy implementers, design challenges abound. Every design challenge presents an opportunity for change and transformation. To get from policy intent to policy outcome, however, is not a straightforward journey. It involves people and services as much as it involves policies and organizations. Of all organizations, perhaps government agencies are perceived to be the least likely to change. They are embedded in enormous bureaucratic structures that have grown over decades, if not centuries. In effect, many people have given up hope that such an institution can ever change its ways of doing business. And yet, from a human-centered design perspective, they present a fabulous challenge. Designed by people for people, they have a mandate to be citizen-centered, but they often fall short of this goal. If human-centered design can make a difference in this organizational context, it is likely to have an equal or greater impact on an organization that shows more flexibility; for example, one that is smaller in size and less entangled in legal or political frameworks.

Transforming Public Services by Design offers a human-centered design perspective on policies, organizations and services. Three design projects by large-scale government agencies illustrate the implications for organizations and the people involved in designing public services: the Tax Forms Simplification Project by the Internal Revenue Service (1978-1983), the Domestic Mail Manual Transformation Project by the United States Postal Service (2001-2005) and the Integrated Tax Design Project by the Australian Tax Office. These case studies offer a unique demonstration of the role of human-centered design in policy context.

This book aims to support designers and managers of all backgrounds who want to know more about reorienting policies, organizations and services around people.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS

List of Figures

Preface

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

Section and Chapter titles

SECTION I

Re-Orienting Public Services, Organizations and Policies Around People

Chapter 1: Design and Transformation as a Problem for the Public Sector

Three Examples of Transforming Public Services to Re-Orient Government Around People

Example 1: The USPS Domestic Mail Manual Transformation Project

Chapter 6: How it began: Project Background and Introduction

Chapter 7: Preparing the Ground: Project Phase I

Chapter 8: The Organizational Dimension: Project Phase II

Chapter 9: Completing the Transformation: Project Phase III

Example 2: The US IRS Tax Simplification Project

Chapter 10: The Project from Start to Finish

Example 3: Australian Tax Office Integrated Tax Design Project

Chapter 11: Background, Project Phases and Outcomes

Chapter 10: An Expanding Discourse and Practice of Design in the Public Sector

Bibliography/references

Appendices

Index

About the Author

Sabine Junginger, PhD heads the Competency Center for Research into Design and Management at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. She is a Fellow of the Hertie School of Governance. She is Visiting Professor at Jiangnan University, China and the Macromedia University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Germany.